Sloth - Belgian-Style Imperial Stout | Midnight Sun Brewing Co.

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Notes / Commercial Description:
SLOTH Belgian-style Imperial Stout is deliberately dark as hell. The pour is slow and sluggish. Its head is menacing, becoming torn and tattered Belgian lace on the sides of the glass as you cautiously consume this brew—sip by insidious sip.

The aroma is sweet from heavy malt and big alcohol with notes of vanilla, coconut and whiskey from the oak. The depth & breadth of roasted malt flavors loiters on the palate while the robust finish lingers, well, forever.

A-Gorgeous inky black with a lovely thick chocolate colored head. Globs of lacing in the glass.

S-Although only slightly diminished this brew smells very similar to Kate the Great. Chocolate, licorice and smoke in the back. Alcohol warming with a bit of coffee in the background. Amazing how close they are to each other.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours pitch black, opaque black in the glass with a fine, half finger brown head with great retention and lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, chocolate, bourbon and a hint of vanilla. Flavor is dark toasted malt, dark chocolate, vanilla, lots of oak, mild bourbon; finishes with chocolate, slightly tart and vinous from the barreling and Belgian yeast. Superb heavy body with a silky, creamy mouth feel. The malt and barrel flavors are excellent and matched with the mouth feel are great. The mild vinous tartness in the finish clashes a little for me, although the heavy chocolate malt body and Belgian character atone for this overall. A flavorful Belgian style stout with an incredible mouth feel, luscious. The original brew of this achieved the status of whale and I never expected to ever see one, so was pleased to see this brewed again. Deserves its reputation.

The brewer notes about the pour are on point; the opaque darkness and thick sludginess outclasses a lot of Sloth's higher-ABV, barrel-aged stout brethren. The nose is quite appealing, if a bit confusing and unexpected in contrast to appearances: strong notes of malt, vanilla yogurt, Montmorency cherry, and barrel oak. I suppose some of the fruitiness and yogurt are attributable to the Belgian yeast, and this carries through to the flavor profile, which adds some dark plum, cherry cordial, and chocolate notes. Coconut is a bit subdued but starts to emerge as the beer warms. Quite complex, not 100% coherent or balanced, but a very unusual composition that's absolutely worth giving a try.

pours blacker than snipes, shannon sharp, eddie murphy, or even space ghost's mask. the head sparkles almost like there were little diamonds in it, otherwise a toffee coffee color. smells of chocolate, and caramel but more inviting than just a run of the mill stout. the taste is a bit bitter, caramelish with a faint hint of cherry on the finish (though i don't think there is any in the mix). mouth-feel is fantastic, grainy for a stout, perfect level of carbonation, an all around joy to drink. if you want an answer for drinkability see the mouth-feel. damn good beer, period end of story.

My neighbor Dave brought me back this bottle from a summer trip through Alaska, thanks Dave! Sloth is a black as night beast that gurgles from the bottle into this snifter. This beer swallows up the light in the room. It took a hard pour to conjure up a fingers worth of head but what's there is so dark it borders on purple. The head dissipates to a thin skimming and small ring after a few minutes. A quick swirl brings the head back to life.

This is a deep, dark, rich smelling stout. The nose alone is intoxicating. There's a huge roastiness off the bat that's intertwined with high cocoa dark chocolate, dark slightly underripe berries and molasses in that order of intensity. The complexity in the nose goes on and on growing deeper and deeper as it warms. The alcohol adds some spice to the overall aroma and there's even some nuttiness in here. The nose of this beer is excellent!

The flavor follows the aroma stride for stride. The big roastiness jumps out right away and is quickly surpassed by deep, dark chocolate with a touch of heavy cream. All the other qualities from the aroma come through in the back and add their own unique touch to this massively rich beer. Clean alcohol fumes heat up the throat and nose without ever getting in the way. I'm having a tough time deciding between a 4 and 4.5 but the more I drink the more I lean toward the latter.

The mouthfeel on this big stout falls right where it needs to. The body is thick and rich without the sticky sweetness. It's completely mouth coating with barely any noticeable carbonation which really helps all the flavors jump.

This beer goes down easy but it will never be an easy drinker. The abv and complexity makes it a 100% sipper. I wouldn't mind sipping it all night though.

Sloth is high quality. I didn't pick up any Belgian characteristics but I did pick up plenty of huge complex RIS. I wish I had a few more bottles of this beer, as it gets near room temp it becomes outstanding. Thanks again Dave!

Pours what at first appears to be a lifeless black, but after stopping pouring a late rising half finger of head forms.

The aroma is an incredibly decadent mix of chocolate, toffee, raisins, vanilla, grapes, citrus hoppiness....man, this is just begging me to take a sip.

The flavor is not quite as complex as the nose would suggest but it is still quite good. It starts out with some dry oakiness followed by dusty cocoa. Vanilla and plums in there as well. The flavor profile is very nice for sure, one that keeps me taking sip after sip looking for more.

The body doesn't quite support the flavor. It is medium with low carbonation. Not watery by any means, but either a bit more thickness or a bit more carbonation is needed to match the flavor.

Overall, this is a seriously good beer but probably not worth the effort to acquire. Not sure how it may differ from when it was fresh, but at this point in its life it is damn near a mirror image of the flat bottles of Lost Abbey Angel's Share from last year.

Sampled 5/2/08. Shared the entire 7 beer series with fellow BAs Deuane & SierraGS. It was quite a night! Special thanks to AKBelgianBeast for trading me the complete set of these to try.

22 oz bomber into a snifter.

Pours a pitch black with a 1/2 finger of dark brown mocha colored head that shrinks down into a great looking creamy retention around the edges with some thin wisps across the center. Very nice looking lacing is left behind. The aroma is mostly deep chocolate notes and coffee but I'm also picking up some slight yeasty notes and a prickly heat in the backend.

The taste starts off with a roasty bitterness up front that is quickly followed by rich chocolate and caramel notes and some zippy espresso. There is also an underlying current of dark fruit tang and an oakiness to it. The mouthfeel has a medium full feel with a nice amount of alcohol beef to the proceedings but not quite enough to make it stinging. The overall body feels like it all just go a tad deeper however.

Very nice and probably my favorite of the Deadly Sins series. This is just packed with flavor and I liked how the Belgian characteristics stayed on the more subdued side, just lying underneath those other explosive RIS traits. Although a bit beefy, this still drank like a champ for a 10% Stout. I just wish that I had another bottle.

22 that I received a looong time ago from AkBelgianBeast... I shared the final sin with inflatablechair... Sam and I both very much appreciated the opportunity... Poured into my New Belgium snifter... Thanks again Frank.

Appearance: very dark, minimal head. Aroma is rich, complex, and balanced. Which is a way of saying that nothing really dominates: not the bourbon, not the vanilla, not the roasted malts. Instead, it's a good balance of a lot of stuff, and I suppose some of that is the Belgian yeast. The taste is again, quite balanced. There's bourbon there, but this is no bourbon bomb. There's vanilla, and there's a zillion other flavors. It's a little tart on the finish. The mouthfeel is super smooth.

I've had a lot of stouts, a lot of imperial stouts, a lot of Russian Imperial Stouts. I'm not sure exactly what makes this a Belgian style stout, but it's really good, and one of the best imperial stouts that I've had.

The bottle opens with a rather enthusiastic vent.
Presentation is opaque jet black, with only a half-inch head of brown foam with a stretch-pour.
Absolutely no translucency in the edges when held to a spotlight.
Aromatics are loaded with chocolate cake batter spiked with coffee dust. Heavily roasted, with char and nougat following through.
The mouthfeel is massive. Very thick and chewy, but beyond that there seems to be an elevated carbonation level that allows the brew to somewhat expand on the pallet. Slighty coarse with gummy particulates.
The pallet is full-on, over-the-top Imperial Stout. Rich and lucious dark chocolate, espresso beans, brownie batter, and Hershey's syrup.
Bitterness and hopping in general are restrained, with the bitterness that's present being of the acrid type.
Finishes with a very slow warm up and a hint of dark fruit under the asphault of chocolate and espresso.

A friend and I were lucky enough to do a side by side with Kate the Great.
While the Kate had more finesse, complexity, and drinkabilty, the Sloth was definately a much bigger interpretation of the style.

Smell: Aroma heavy on the roast, and boozey, too. Notes of burnt wood, dark caramel, chocolate, a puff of smoke and, once allowed to warm a bit, a medley of dried fruits.

Taste: There's an intense charred, smokey roastiness upfront followed by a sweet dark chocolate taste to make it bearable. Tastes of caramel syrup, fire-scorced marshmallows, and a bit of fruit. Mild oak character. Medium earthy bitterness that recedes as you approach the finish. A touch of oak and yeast (and booze) for the finish.

-opaque, dark brown tap pour with a half cm foam cap that quickly dissipated to a ring. Aroma has some cacao and some bourbon. Flavors include oak, bourbon and a bit of char. Mouthfeel is not overly slick. This is a rich, tasty gift.